The present invention relates to a method of transferring yarn packages in a textile machine such as an open-end spinning machine or a winder having a multiplicity of yarn winding units arranged in a row on each longitudinal side of a machine base. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of transferring yarn packages doffed onto a conveyor disposed centrally on the machine base of such a textile machine, to a following yarn processing step.
Recent years have seen larger-size yarn packages such as cones or cheeses produced from open-end spinning machines or similar textile machines. Since it has become increasingly difficult for workers to manually transfer such yarn packages (hereinafter referred to as a "package"), there have been proposed various efforts for automatically transferring packages to subsequent manufacturing steps. One automatic package transfer proposal is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 27631, for example. According to this prior art, packages doffed from an open-end spinning machine are stored on a rope conveyor and then placed one by one on a package receiver attached to a chain lifter. As the package on the package receiver is raised, the position of the bobbin hole in the package is detected, whereupon the package receiver is stopped temporarily at a prescribed height. After an empty hanger on a hook coveryor running above the package has been detected, the package receiver is lifted again for a predetermined interval until the bobbin hole in the package is aligned with a peg of the empty hanger in timed relation thereto, whereupon the package is transferred to the hook conveyor. Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-24587 shows a package transfer apparatus having a conveyor disposed in an upper position in an open-end spinning machine for successively transferring packages to an end of a machine base where the package is carried by a peg attached to a lifter which is both movable up and down and rotatable, the peg being inserted in the bobbin hole. Then, the package is raised up to a hook conveyor and simultaneously the package is turned into alignment with the direction of travel of the hook converyor so that the package can be transferred to the hook conveyor. In these prior art arrangements, the packages as transferred are arranged in a row and either oriented in a certain direction or randomly oriented. With textile machines having juxtaposed rows of yarn winding units on both sides of a machine base, righthand and lefthand packages are doffed at random onto a conveyor with some directed rightward while others leftward. It is necessary to transfer cone packages as they are uniformly oriented to a next step so that they will be processed properly. Parallel cheeses, when used in yarn twisting or knitting, are also required to be uniformly oriented for suppressing variations in yarn twists which would be developed in vertical yarn unwinding. However, the conventional package transfer arrangements have had no provision for meeting these requirements.